1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a small portable microprocessor based circuit that contains information about the user of the circuit that is known or inherently known to the user. More particularly, the present invention relates to a portable microprocessor based circuit that is built into an articulatable article. The articulatable article is a personal possession of the user. The microprocessor based circuit provides the user with the capability to perform a vast variety of secured and unsecured transactions that the user may wish to participate in on a daily basis.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the world we live in becomes more complex and transactions between man and machines become more and more necessary, a vast variety of keys, access cards, and personal identification devices have been made available to the public. Access cards provide access to hotel rooms, secure storage areas, selected rooms or buildings, bank accounts, computer systems, etc. Access devices, as we know them today, tend to comprise a readable piece of information, such as the user's name and an identification number, and then require the user to type in the identification number in order to obtain access.
Also available in society today are credit and debit cards. These cards enable a user to perform a vast variety of transactions. Such transactions usually involve money or monetary equivalents.
A drawback of present-day keys, access cards, credit cards and the like, is that they are not secure enough. Counterfeiting and unauthorized access are a major problem for banking organizations, corporations and government entities. Furthermore, at present, if an access card or the like is lost by the user, the finder of the card can easily, in many cases make transactions with the access card (i.e., credit cards).
What is needed is a means for access that is both secure and inherently bonded to the user. Such a device will be extremely difficult to counterfeit (both the device and the transaction) and be worthless to anybody other than the designated user.